


Lucky Numbers

by calumTraveler



Category: Nichijou
Genre: Comedy, Developing Relationship, F/F, Gen, Random & Short, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2017-12-25 17:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 46
Words: 13,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calumTraveler/pseuds/calumTraveler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Series of One shots covering small sections of Ordinary Life, ranging from Fortune Cookies and Fish-Jam to Snow Storms and Metal Ingots to Conventions and Time Travel. Includes a Helvetica Standard segment every Five Chapters! :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 413

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter was inspired by a mistake in Math Class.

**413.**

* * *

"Fortune Cookies," Yuko declared soundly as she sat down in her chair, "are awesome!"

Mio turned to face her classmate, "Come again?" This could be interesting.

"The other night I brought home all these fortune cookies from this restaurant we went to," Yuko explained as she opened up the bag of food she'd bought for lunch, "so I've been opening 'em up every chance I get." She fished out a small slip of paper from her pocket and handed it over to the girl infront of her, "That's this morning's."

"'Don't forget to carry the one'," Mio read it aloud. "That doesn't sound like a fortune to me."

"Look at the bottom!" Yuko insisted as she began pulling out the lunches for the two of them.

"Lucky numbers Four hundred thirteen, Six, Twelve, Sixty-Four," Mio quoted, "So?"

"That's my favorite number!" Yuko grinned, "Four-Thirteen!"

"So you're expecting a fortune that doesn't even sound like a fortune to come true because it has your favorite number on it?" Mio sighed as she snatched her own lunch from the bag, "You're weird sometimes."

"Heheh..." Yuko laughed quietly as she scratched at her forehead, "I guess so?"

* * *

Math Class.

Yuko hated it.

Especially when the teacher gave you a surprise quiz on Calculating Income Commissions.

 _'Well,'_  she sighed as she tapped her pencil against the work page in front of her,  _'at least it isn't physics.'_

Eyes searched the page, hoping to find the answer to an easy problem.

 _'That one looks easy enough,'_  she settled on one and began working it out in her head.  _'Three-Thousand, Four-hundred Fifty times Twelve...'_  She started counting in her head,  _'Zero, Ten, Carry one...Hey, isn't that what my fortune said?...No! Focus Yuko! Focus!'_  she shook her head out and tightened her grip on her pencil,  _'Carry the one! Eight, One, Nine, Then Six! Next row! Zero, Zero, Five, Four, Three! Easy!'_  she began adding,  _'Zero Zero, Three... One... Four?'_ Her eyes widened as the answer lay before her.

41,300

Forty One Thousand, Three Hundred.

Four. One. Three.

Her mouth widened in glee.  _'Yes! My Lucky Numbers!'_

With that one problem pushing her on, she pressed forward, solving the remainder of her quiz with a delight she usually did not use in Math.

* * *

"Time's up! Now we check!" The math teacher said as he began reciting the answers aloud.

Yuko smiled to herself as she checked the answers off one by one,  _'I'm going to get a one-hundred percent! I just know it!'_

And then...

"Problem Eight: Forty One thousand, Four hundred."

"Eh?" Yuko stared at the problem that had been right just few minutes before. "What?" But there it was. Problem 8: she had written 41,300. The correct answer was 41,400. _"I'm Off by one!"_ she cried out in horror.

* * *

Just Before The Next Class began...

"Remember that Fortune cookie you said wasn't a fortune?" Yuko sat down in her desk, a scowl on her face.

"Yeah?" Mio asked, turning around.

"It was."

Mio stared at the brown haired girl for a moment, "Are you serious?"

"I forgot to carry the one on problem eight and I got an 86 on my quiz," Yuko replied.

"Ouch," Mio winced, "well, at least you didn't goof up Problem Six."

"What'd you get on that one?" Yuko asked, perking up slightly.

"Sixty-Four," Mio said, shrugging.

"But that was Sixty-Three," Yuko replied.

"I carried a one over."

Silence for a moment.

"But that didn't have a one to carry."

"Exactly."

They sighed at once.

"Fortune cookies are out to get us," Yuko said as she collapsed onto her desk.

"Agreed," Mio agreed, hanging her head in sorrow.


	2. Short Thoughts: Windows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I always do when it snows. Inspired by a recent snow storm striking random States at the time of writing.

**SHORT THOUGHTS:** _**Windows** _

* * *

__

Yuko wrapped a scarf around her neck and walked over to her bedroom window, staring out at the snow covered streets. She smiled at all the snow given by the sudden blizzard that had trapped everyone indoors, then closed the blinds before walking over to her desk and sitting down.

She opened her notebook and pulled out a pencil from a nearby mug. With a content sigh, she closed her eyes and began scratching the pencil against the paper without even thinking about it.

Sometime later, she opened her eyes and stared at the small landscape she had drawn onto the page: A Simple tree on a hill, over looking a large plain with a rising sun overhead. She smiled at it with approval.

_Sometimes when it snows, I close the window, and imagine that the light pouring through the blinds is from a bright summer's day._


	3. Gross Revenge

**Mazui Revenge**

* * *

"What was the name of that restaurant you went to again?" Mio asked one day, "The one with the fortune cookies?"

Yuko blinked at her friend from across the surface of her desk, "The Blind Dragon, why?"

"Ah, I thought so."

"Why?" Yuko raised an eyebrow.

"I had lunch from there over the weekend," Mio pulled out a small slip of paper from her book bag and handed it over.

"You went there for lunch?" Yuko asked as she took the fortune, "Why?"

"I've been in the mood for Chinese after the test the other day," Mio shrugged. "It was the first place I found on my way back from the post office."

"'You shall exact your revenge for a sibling's deed most foul. Lucky numbers Zero, Eleven, Three, Seven.'" Yuko read the fortune, "I don't get it."

"Try reading it upside down."

Yuko turned the fortune upside down, and looked at it again, "Uh...?"

"What do the numbers look like as English letters?"

"J...E...L..L...Oh!" Yuko blinked. "Jello!" she grinned. "It reads 'JELLO'!" A pause, "Now I want Jello for lunch..."

Mio sighed, "Of course you would."

"Hmm, Chocolate Pudding sounds better though..." Yuko mused, "ooooh! Maybe even a Pudding Pie! Now I want Pie!"

"Ahhem."

"Er...Right," Yuko smiled sheepishly as she handed the fortune back, "so, what happened?"

"Well, remember when I told you how my sister made this awful jelly-jam stuff one day out of fish guts?" Mio asked.

Yuko personally hadn't encountered the foul food (thankfully), but she had heard from Mio about it soon enough. "Yeah!" she nodded.

"Well, when I saw this, I didn't really think much of it," Mio explained, "but I went shopping for dinner later on, and I accidentally dropped my list in the Baked goods isle. When I went down to pick it up, I saw a box of Jello lying on the ground, turned upside down, so that the letters looked like the numbers on the fortune."

Yuko gasped, "Wait. Don't tell me you...!"

"Yup," Mio nodded, "I made Jello and put some of that gross jam into it along with some raspberries."

"Ooooh, Mio-chan! You're meeean!" Yuko giggled.

"I even took out a few spoonfuls and threw them in the sink after it'd set up, so my sister thought I'd actually eaten some before," Mio continued. "Oh the look on her face when she actually tasted it...!" she closed her eyes and sighed, remembering the event, "She even fell for her own trap of putting the left-over jam in the milk carton!"

Yuko stared at her friend for a few moments, "Wow."

"Heh, yeah," Mio smiled, though somewhat embarrassed, "she's okay though. Thought it was funny, even. She was laughing!" She sighed, "I don't get her some times."

"Who does?" Yuko shrugged.

 


	4. Cats.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nakamura and Sakamoto have a chat.

**Cats.**

* * *

Kana Nakamura wanted one thing in life (and no, at this moment, capturing a certain Robot girl for study was not it), and that was her cat.

Taishou. That little black kitten of hers.

She had seen him just once...Only once for sure...after he had vanished. And he'd been wearing a cute little red bandanna, too. Quite adorable that. Then again, the Shinonome girl had said that they had a little black cat too... It could have been possible that she'd seen theirs instead...?

But No! It had to have been Taishou!

There was no-other cat it could have been...! Which could only mean...?

As Nakamura-sensei found herself walking away from another failed visit at trying to see their cat, she found herself pausing at a street corner, where... "Taishou!" her eyes widened slightly.

"No," Came a voice seemingly from the cat's direction, "my name is Sakamoto-san, not Taishou. Sorry."

She did a double take. Sakamoto? So this was the Shinonome's illusive cat! And it could...talk?

"If I were however," The cat across the street continued, almost hesitantly, "what would you say to him, if you had the chance to talk to him?"

"Er..." Nakamura paused. What would she say? Let's go home? How have you been? Want to play a game? "Why did you run away?"

"Hmm...That's a loaded question," the cat mused, "perhaps he didn't like the way you were treating him? Or perhaps it was an accident. A curious cat went exploring and got lost? Or maybe it was a combination of both?"

"I...suppose that's possible?" she'd never really thought about it before.

Sakamoto hopped up off of the street and onto a nearby retaining wall, "Why did you call me Taishou before? Is it because I look like him?"

"Yes!" She'd said without thinking. "You look so very much like him!"

"I see," The cat turned his head towards a house, behind which the sun was setting behind. "I'll tell you something, when I first found those girls, it was just them. No parents, no guardians. I found myself shocked at the fact that they'd managed to survive for however long without someone to look after them," He sighed, almost as if he was remembering something sad, "but they took me in, and at first I thought they might have not been worth all the trouble (so much petting) but then they gave me this bandanna, and then I could talk. I decided... I would keep an eye on them. For better or for worse."

"Really...?" Nakamura asked, "why?"

"They needed someone to keep them straight," The cat seemed to shrug, or was it just the lighting that made him seem to do such? "In the end, even after having to sit through some rather annoying things, I still think it's worth while," he turned his head to her. "I have the feeling that if Taishou ended up in the same situation, he'd make the same decision."

"Is that how all cats feel about their owners?" She had to ask.

"Some, but not all. Some do get lucky," With that, he leaped across the street, landing on the wall directly on the other side, "But...while I may not be your Taishou, if you'd like, I'd certainly wouldn't mind being your friend."

Nakamura was taken back by that. A cat asking to be her friend? Who ever had heard of such a thing? And yet, even so...

"Nakamura, Kana," she smiled and bowed a little towards him, "it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sakamoto-San."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well, Nakamura-san," He bowed his head towards her in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The series kind of left this plot line hanging, just a bit, so I felt that it could be resolved a bit better.


	5. HS: Office.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Network Executives figure out what to do for lunch.

**HELVETICA STANDARRRD!**

* * *

As a happy, cheerful tune piped through the radio, the high end executives of The Network sat around a table, planning their schedule.

Without saying a thing.

They sat there for a good thirty seconds before someone coughed slightly and lit a pipe.

Almost a good minute of silence before someone scratched their nose.

About forty seconds of nothing before someone lifted off their hat to scratch an itch on the back of their head.

Ten seconds later someone yawned.

And then finally someone spoke up:

"What should we do for lunch?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!" The President of the meeting roared to the man.

Silence resumed.

They all sat in relative silence...

Someone coughed and went to get a drink of water.

Then, a minute after his silent return, someone spoke up:

"Maybe we should do a cross-network Movie series crossing over the different anime and TV shows we have running?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" The President shouted at the woman who had spoken up.

And then the man from before said, "Actually, that's not a bad idea."

"Well thank you, Kudo-Kun!"

 


	6. Short Thoughts: Response

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hakase encounters an all too familiar problem.

**Short Thoughts: Response.**

* * *

With Nano having just left for school, Hakase pulled out a cardboard box from a certain hiding spot, and opened it up, revealing a jury-rigged Laptop within.

She started it up, and moused over to a game she'd installed on it.

 _"Logging into Guru: Puzzle Master Online..."_ the screen said, _"Please wait."_

And then the computer's speakerss buzzed in alarm:

 _"Authentication Failed. Please try again,"_ the warning message said. _"No Response From Server."_

With a cry, the young girl snapped the lid to her box-top closed and stormed off, knowing that when the servers were unexpectedly down like that, they wouldn't be back up until well after Nano had gotten back from school.

_"Sometimes, you can't do the things you want to do when you have the time to do them."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happened with Myst Online URU Live more times in one week than I cared to count. Hence this small story.


	7. Valid Currency.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mai being Mai.

**VALID CURRENCY.**

* * *

"Uh..." The Counter Girl looked around nervously, "would that be cash or credit?"

Her customer said nothing, instead blinking rather slowly.

"Erm..." This was really embarrassing, "or do you wish to order something else?"

Another slow blink.

"Ummm..." The Counter Girl had no clue how to respond to this, "Ano..."

Then the customer raised a single finger-

"Ah-?"

-And pointed it at the menu on the wall, "Coffee Coffee."

"...Eh?" Counter girl had no clue what to make of this. That wasn't on the menu, was it...? "Right, okay...Will...Will that be all?"

A slow blink, accompanied by a slow nod.

"Ah, okay..." Finally! "Will that be cash or credit?"

Mai Minakami reached into her jacket pocket, and pulled out a wallet. Almost as agonizingly slow as possible, she opened the snaps on it, and opened it...

"EHHH?" Counter Girl's eyes widened as a set of silver and gold bars reflected out of the wallet.

"Ingots," Mai said simply.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mai strikes me as the kind of person who would actually have solid gold and silver if for no other reason than to have it.


	8. Fire Alarm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which something impossible happens.

**FIRE ALARM.**

* * *

"You remember when I got you to push that button before?" Yuuko asked as she, Nano, and Mio watched an electrician replace the fire alarm from a push button to a pull lever.

"Yeah," Mio shook her head in dismay, "I remember it. Can't believe I fell for it either."

"You pulled the fire alarm!?" Nano's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"I told her I'd pressed it before and it didn't work!" Yuuko shrugged, "I didn't think she'd actually go through with it!"

"Glub!" The Electrician suddenly stepped away from the half placed alarm and moved to pick up his box of tools, "I can't believe I forgot the new high density wires..." he was muttering as he walked past the trio of girls, heading back towards his truck.

"Well, so much for that," Yuuko lamented flatly.

"Hmm," Mio suddenly had a devious idea for revenge, "Hey Yuuko, I don't think he finished installing it!"

"So?"

"It probably wouldn't do anything if we pulled it!" Mio grinned.

"Naganohara-san!" Nano gasped in surprise.

"Noooo way!" Yuuko threw her arms out in protest, "I'm not falling for that!"

"But I really don't think it would work! He said he forgot the wires!" Mio continued to prod the girl who had gotten her to do it before, "besides, if it does work, consider us even!"

"Aioi-san, I don't think you should...!" Nano tried to protest, but Yuuko had been convinced.

"Alright then!" Yuuko was rolling up her sleeves and marching over to the lever-pull fire alarm...

"Oh no...!" Nano was covering her eyes...

**CLICK.**

Yuuko pulled the lever, and held it down for a good three seconds. Then she let it go, where it reset to normal with an  _unclick._  "Hah! There!" Yuuko turned around and flashed a smile and Victory sign, "It didn't-!"

The fire alarm rang.

"Go off..."

All throughout the school, students got up and out of their rooms with an orderly fashion.

"Stop Pushin'!"

"Hey! Screw you buddy!"

"Didn't we do this last year?"

"Argue later! Someone could die!"

"I'm pretty sure we did do this all last year."

Nano, Mio, and Yuuko all stared at each other in horror as students filed out in a polite orderly line behind them.

Then there was the Electrician, standing there with a handful of electrical wires and an equally stunned look on his face. "But it was disconnected," he finally managed to say, having observed the entire impossible event for what it was.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to say that Mai did it at the end, but...I think it works better for everyone if she doesn't get to troll people twice in a row.


	9. Cut Nails

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hakase encounters a problem that is a lot more common than most people think.

**CUT NAILS.**

* * *

"OOOWWW!"

Nano's eyes twitched the moment Hakase's voice rang through the house. Five minutes. That was how long the eight year old had been left alone.

It took her about thirty seconds to put the plate she'd been cleaning back into the sink and walk into the main room where Hakase no doubt was.

And she was, "Naaaanooooo..." the girl sniffed as she clutched at one of her feet, the left one, oddly enough, from her seat on the floor. "I hurt my foot..."

Nano sighed as she bent down to examine the damage, "Hakase..." As she pulled the younger girl's hands away from the injury, she asked, "What happened?"

"I was walkin' an' I tripped an' then my foot hurt an..." The "Professor" mumbled as she looked to the side, trying not to look, and with good reason! Her bare foot had a half an inch long bleeding cut etched into the side!

"I'll have to get you a bandage," Nano deduced as she picked Hakase up to carry her back into the kitchen. "What did you cut yourself on anyways?"

The girl mumbled something rather unintelligible into Nano's neck.

"What?"

"My big toe," Hakase confessed.

Nano couldn't help it- she took in a sharp breath at that. They'd just taken a bath an hour ago, and she'd thought that the Professor's toenails had needed trimming, but Hakase insisted that they do that next week instead, "We'll just have to trim them then."

"Ok," There was a sniff, no argument from her at all.

The next few minutes occurred in silence, with Nano washing off the cut foot (and Hakase's hand as well) of the blood, before sterilizing and bandaging the cut with a Shark printed Bandage.

"There we go," Nano smiled at the professor and patted her on the shoulder, "all better now."

"But what if I cut my foot again?" There was a deep, dark fear brewing behind those normally bright eyes.

"We~eell..." The other girl thought about it for a moment, then smiled as an Idea hit her. "I'll be right back!" Nano got up and hurried to their room, and grabbed a couple pairs of socks out of a dresser. She hurried back to the kitchen (round trip one and a half minutes) and explained her plan, "We'll put on two pairs of socks, okay? Your toe nails shouldn't cut through those that easily, and when we get them trimmed up, you won't have to wear them. Sound good?"

"Yeah." Hakase nodded, and once she had her doubled up socks on, said, "Thank you, Nano."

"Do you want to help me with the dishes?" Nano offered, tilting her head to the side a bit as she asked.

"Yeah!" Immediately, the professor's eyes brightened a bit as she nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the time of writing I'd had a mysterious habit of cutting my feet with my own toenails. I don't know what causes it, but it gets very annoying! As someone mature enough to deal with bandaging his own wounds, I can only imagine how horrifying such an event would be to someone of Hakase's age; but I remember when I got a splinter in my foot when I was younger, and I nearly went with the solution I went with then (wearing sandals to prevent recurring the damage) only until I realized that if you got the trajectory right, you could still cut yourself with your toenails while wearing sandals! Geeze. What a pain feet-related-accidents are!


	10. HS: Monster

**HELVETICA STAND~ARD!**

* * *

**"RAWR!"**

"EVERYONE RUUUUN!" A middleschooler cried out as a massive shadow fell over the city, "CATIE'S GOT A GUUUUUN!"

"EEEEEEKKKK!" Many politicians cried out in terror as they fled the scene in nothing but their underwear, "HOW HORRIBLE!"

With a determined scowl, Chirashizushi, the angel with a powerful toaster at home, took up a defensive position between the fleeing citizens and the menacing threat. "You won't get by me...Uh..." She faltered for a moment, not knowing exactly what it was that was threatening the city, "You random beastie, you~!"

And as the streets shook with the monster's menacing footsteps, our resident angel gulped. Fearing for her own life and limb, but she couldn't run away! Not with civilians still in danger!

And then the monster rounded the corner.

"me _ow!"_  purred a tiny, tiny, adorable kitten with a monstrous looking pink collar.

Chirashizushi did a double take, "Ehhh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Kitten's full name is "Catie Heart Gun," and she does not appreciate her owner putting that hideous collar on her.


	11. Ready in 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you just want to say something over the phone and the person on the other end just mishears what you're saying entirely. It can be really frustrating when it happens for more than a minute, too! Even more so when you're trying to order dinner!

**READY IN 15.**

* * *

"I'll go order a pizza," Mio said as she got up the front room table of her room where they were all studying for the next big test.

"I want anchovies on my half!" Yuuko grinned.

"Bleh, I'm not ordering a whole half with anchovies!" Mio shook her head at the joke order and walked to the phone. She pressed the quick dial and waited.

 _"Daiku Pizza, how can I help you?"_  the girl on the other end asked.

"One large pizza please," Mio ordered, "Half pepperoni, half supreme."

_"Understood, that's two large pizzas, one pepperoni, one supreme."_

Mio jolted a little, "No, I only want one pizza, half and half."

_"Right, one large pizza, with Half-n-Half creme filled crust!"_

"..." Mio stared at the phone, briefly wondering if she'd hit the wrong number, "No, that's not what I said at all. Can I start over?"

_"One Star Rover Special?"_

"No!" Mio planted her right hand to her right eye for a single moment, "I want  **ONE**  pizza, with  _ **HAL-FU**_ Pepperoni, and  _ **HAL-FU**_  Supreme!"

 _"Okay got cha! One Pizza Half pepperoni Half the works!"_  There was clicking on the other end indicating typing.  _"Is that all for you?"_

"Yes," Mio sighed. It was close enough. "That'll be all..." After a few more minutes of giving and confirming the address for delivery, Mio hung up and walked back over to the table.

"Something wrong, Naganohara-san?" Nano asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Pizza will be here in fifteen minutes," was all she said.

 


	12. Answer in 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 20 LOG ROOT 10!!

**ANSWER IS IN TEN.**

* * *

Meanwhile, while Mio was ordering a Pizza...

"Ehhh?" Yuuko frowned at the problem before her, "I don't get it."

"Let me see it..." Nano leaned towards Yuuko to read the math problem, "Which one is it?"

"That one," Yuuko pointed to a problem.

"Write the method for..." Nano paused for a moment as she processed the question, then sighed as she remembered something Hakase had said once in an attempt to get out of a bath early, "It's Twenty Log Root Ten."

"Really?" Yuuko asked.

"Yup."

"Huh, I never would have gotten that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was browsing videos and I came across that funny little scene where Hakase called out "20 LOG ROOT 10!", and I had to do a little follow up where Nano could use it in a different situation. (useful? I'll let you be the judge.)


	13. a HAPPY song

**A HAPPY SONG.**

* * *

Misato Tachibana sat on her bed, headphones tucked over her ears playing a happy tune.

She was blissfully tuned out to the troubles of the world, managing to ignore even the distant, pestering thoughs that swirled around one of her infuriating classmates (SasaharaSasaharaSasaharararr rrghhh).

Then she nodded her head in beat with the music. Then another beat. And again. And again...

Soon, she was tilting her head from side to side, as she sang along, "La La La...Itsudatte jan jan yarimasho~!"

It was then that Misato's little sister, Mihoshi, pried the door open and commented rather loudly, "That's a happy song you're singing there!"

"GAH!" Misato instinctively threw a pillow from her bed, which crashed into the door as her sister closed it with a slam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by that scene in Lucky Star where Konata makes a remark to Yu-chan after she's started singing along. WE~EL, Technically not so much inspired as basically re-drawn frame by frame. WE~EELL...TECHNICALLY rewritten frame for frame, as best as one can remember. You just can't help but singing along to some good tunes!


	14. Like Love: Boxing

**LIKE LOVE.**

* * *

"HAAIIIIII- _ **YAH!"**_

The two boxers punched each other in the face, each sending the other flying across the ring, where they bounced off of the ropes onto the floor.

The manager shook his head as the two tried sitting up, "That was good form, but next time don't mirror the exact same move as your opponent."

The boy huffed, slightly out of breath, at his opponent, "That was a good attack, I wasn't expecting that much strength from a new recruit!"

"Really?" the girl took her helmet off, shaking her head to clear her head of the ringing, also coincidentally clearing her blue hair out of her similarly colored eyes as well, "I didn't think I put that much force into it..."

"A little more practice, and you two will be the top shadow boxers in this ring," the manager smiled kindly at the two of them, then scowled as something drew his attention from across the gym, "Excuse me for a moment," With that he turned to leave, "OI! Nagaisa-san! Let Ikari-san down please!"

"I'm Tobari, Ren," The boy stood up, taking off his helmet to reveal a rather odd color of dark grey hair and similar eyes. He walked over and held his hand out, "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss...?"

"Mio." She smiled up at him, "I'm Naganohara, Mio," and with that, she took his hand.

"Mio-chan," the boy, Ren, smiled at her as he helped her up, "That's a nice name."

_And so on a lucky day brought about by an opportunity born of a cascade of incidents, a girl thought, even for a moment, "Maybe I truly can forget the one who got away."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured that if Mio "lost" Sasahara's love to Misato on the same day that she got scouted for shadow boxing, why wouldn't the fates be similarly inclined to give her another love interest if she took that scouter up on his offer? *Shrug*


	15. HS: Office 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Lunch Debate Continues

**HELVETICA STAAA~NDARRRD!**

* * *

The Network executives continued to sit around their table as the happy music continued to play over the radio.

A woman coughed politely, "What if we..."

"NO!" The President shouted at her.

Silence fell over the office again.

A man went to comment as he scratched at his beard...

"JIIIIIIIIIIII..."

...Only to stop as the President sent him a rather threatening glare.

After a few more moments, someone threw the door open and yelled, "EVERYBODY RUN! CATIE'S GOT A...!"

 **"URU** _ **SAAAAAAAIIIIII!"**_  the President howled at the interloper,  _"WE'RE IN A MEETING!"_  he added in mangled English.

 _"...O.K..."_  The person said quietly, in English in return, as they pulled the door closed with a polite  _click._

Silence fell again, only distantly, however, as screams of terror filled the streets outside...

"So what should we do for lunch?" Someone asked, plainly tempting fate with their blatant ignorance of the President's steaming red face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sometimes wonder if the executives in charge of our television programming here in the US don't take the ideas given to them during these types of meetings. I'm sure most do... But... It's not too far to be out of line that this kind of action gets made... Well, if not by Television Execs, then by other kinds of execs... WHO, though? I have no clue.


	16. PROCRASTINATION?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mio suffers the most dreadful of things.

**PROCRASTINATION?**

* * *

Mio stared at the blank page before her, pencil in hand. She was ready to draw the next chapter of her ongoing Manga series...

Only the images didn't want to come forth from her mind.

Her hand twitched slightly as she tried to move it towards the paper...

A minute later, she was reading a Light Novel. "...Jiiiiii..." She stared at one of the pictures inserted randomly in the middle of it.

_**SNAP.** _

She closed the book harshly, and turned back to her drawing paper, pencil once more in hand...

This time she managed to draw a rough outline of a figure... What would be a person, soon enough...!

A few seconds later she found herself turning towards her math homework, which she had already completed hours ago. "AH..." She immediately spotted a potential error and corrected it... _'That was close.'_

Then it hit her.

 _'What what what!?'_  She shook her head out,  _'What am I doing?'_  She immediately spun back to the drawing paper...

After several minutes of drawing and sketching, Mio took a quick break to look at what she'd drawn...

"EH?" She blinked. It wasn't one of her characters from her story, it was one of the ones from the light novel she'd been reading just a bit earlier. Worse? She'd used up the whole page by expanding the sketch. What was first a character in a small panel was now that rather annoying Puppet, standing on the man's shoulder, the rest of his body taking up the rest of the space.

"What..." Mio blinked again, "Why am I doing this?" she asked to no-one in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I constantly find myself randomly spacing out on the things I want to get done in the process of somehow doing other things. Like this. Why did I write this? I had something else I wanted to have written up...and yet I'm wrote a one shot on the exact thing that I was currently experiencing? ...
> 
> I don't get it.


	17. Matching Pair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this after having such a similar experience with snow boots. :33 It happens.

**MATCHING PAIR.**

* * *

"OUCH!" Nano took a step back having just ran her (right) little toe into one of Hakase's rain boots that were lying right next to the door to the yard. What they were doing there she had no clue, but this was definitely the wrong place for them! "Hakaseee..." She grumbled as she walked into their living room, "you left your boots in the wrong place again!"

"Oh..." The little girl looked down at her shark drawing, "sorry."

"Just be more careful next time!" And with that, Nano turned back around to try to remember what it was she had been about to do...

**THUD.**

"Ouch!" she stumbled back again- having just stubbed her other (left) little toe into the same pair of boots.

"Not my fault!" Hakase chimed in as she ran over to pick up her boots.

Nano sighed, looking down at her two slightly misaligned USB drive toes, before noting with a little humor, "Well, at least they match, now..."


	18. Emergency Exit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> C'mon...You know you wanna do it!

**EMERGENCY EXIT.**

* * *

Mai stood in front of the exit to the new store she, Mio, Yuuko, and Nano had gone to to shop at.

It was a big pair of heavy metal doors, with a bar marked "Press to Exit- ALARM WILL SOUND! - Emergency Exit Only!"

She reached out towards the bar across the two doors.

Mio grabbed her arm seconds before she had pressed the door's lever.

The blue haired girl scolded the glasses wearing girl for almost causing an incident, and then dragged her off to elsewhere.

A short time later, Mai stood in front of another Emergency Exit door once again. Slowly, but not quite *as* slowly, she reached for the lever.

This time, it was Yuuko who had caught her, pleading to please not do that again! She'd get in trouble from her mother if another alarm went off again as a prank!

She was pulled off to shop again.

At the next opportunity, Mai slipped away again, standing in front of the third emergency exit door way, exactly the same as the last two.

She moved her arm faster, aiming to trigger the alarm as fast as she could without being caught.

This time- Nano had wrapped her arms under Mai's shoulders, and was pulling back as hard and as fast as she could.

Mai's eyes narrowed, determination flowed through her veins.

She pushed herself forward- protesting the Robot's strength with her own- and reached for that door.

Mio and Yuuko joined in as well- Mio helping Nano to try to pull Mai away from the door. Yuuko was trying to pull Mai's arm off course.

Mai's index finger barely brushed the metal of the Emergency Exit door handle...

And then the four girls fell to the floor as Nano's foot slipped on a wet spot of the tile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good grief- you know those Emergency Exit doors? I saw one at the Grocery store one day and... I just felt the urge to open it. I wanted to reach out and open it and...
> 
> I held myself back, thankfully.
> 
> But...Mai-chan?
> 
> I don't think she'd succeed at that, even with her friends helping her out.


	19. Free Tickets

**FREE TICKETS.**

* * *

Mio Naganohara slipped out into the snow covered yard with a shiver. A snow storm had just passed through, leaving the town cold, but not too cold. She'd just seen the mail truck pull away, and, thus, was heading out in this cold weather to fetch whatever important documents might or might not be out there.

In all honesty, Mio sighed as she tugged at her hat, she wasn't expecting anything other than the usual junk mail and magazines at this point in the week, but Yoshino (that insane/crazy sister of hers) insisted that she go out to get the mail in case something big came.

And so as she stepped over the snow, carefully walking towards the mail box, she wondered absently what it could be that her sister was expecting that was so important. Why didn't the older girl go get her own letters?

Mio opened the mailbox, seeing nothing unusual beyond the same, plain, vanilla envelopes and one big yellow fold-er.

Wait.

What?

Mio pulled the mail out of the box and shuffled everything underneath the large yellow envelope. Oddly enough, it was addressed to her, rather than her sister. Immediately, Mio's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Had her sister been ordering things through the mail using her name again?

Mio walked back into the house, and closed the door. "Hey, Sis-?" She stopped immediately. The house was quiet.

Much too quiet.

Plus- it didn't help any that there was now a dagger-sized letter opener jabbed into a foam block just resting on the floor that had NOT been there when Mio had left.

Mio's right eye twitched- she had no choice. She *had* to open the envelope.

Carefully, Mio put the other mail aside on the table as she re-read the address on the large envelope. It seemed to have been partially torn off during transit, as the return address was missing and there was no way to tell who it was from.

That was...odd.

Mio sighed- finally, she gave into the temptation and grabbed the letter opener out of the foam block. With a finalized and determined slice, she opened the envelope.

Inside was a type-written letter of some length along with a sheet of printed check sized objects.

Mio took the letter out, and scanned over its contents. Slowly, comprehension dawned on the blue eyed girl. Her sister had...had contacted the officials at a convention that was to be held in the coming months and had somehow secured her- Mio Naganohara- a spot at the artist's alley for the entire weekend of the convention.

And it was a big convention at that. One of the biggest held locally at that time of the year.

As for the check like objects?

Tickets.

Six of them.

The letter explained: Mio would be able to bring along five of her friends and family along with her to the convention- free of charge.

Mio's hands trembled as she held the letter in her hands. What was her sister thinking? This...This...!

Mio Naganohara fainted as her brain failed to understand the paradox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mio's sister is an odd one. Despite tormenting her younger sister, she still does things that comes off as genuinely nice! (The "Birthday King" incident, for example.) 
> 
> Originally, this was to be a set up for a Convention arc....Then I forgot what I was going to do with it entirely.


	20. HS: Cause and Effect

**HELVEEE~TICA STAAAN~DARD!**

* * *

The Landlady crossed her arms for a few moments, staring at the Tengu before her in confusion and dismay... Then she put her hands on her hips and opened her mouth.

She said nothing, and closed it a moment later.

The Tengu fidgeted nervously, tapping his two index fingers together in a fit of shame.

Finally, the Landlady just gestured wildly at the wrecked Building next to them and yelled, _**"And this is what happens when you try to put a collar on my cat!"**_

"I'm so sorry!" The Tengu bowed in apology.

The Landlady sighed, and crossed her arms again, "Fine, but I am not letting you watch Catie again after this incident!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the Cat? Yeah... Blame the Tengu if you got chased out of your house because of her.


	21. TIME TRAVEL!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mio encounters a "Flux Thing" from a certain movie.

**TIME TRAVEL.**

* * *

As Mio walked to school the next day, she heard the most peculiar sound.

**BAM BAM BAM!** **_PCHOOOOO!_ **

The blue haired girl stared on in surprise as a modified DeLorean suddenly appeared out of thin air- in the middle of the curiously empty street- and swerved to a stop just infront of a small snow drift a few yards in front of her.

"What is this?" Mio asked aloud, "Yuuko's idea of a prank?"

Then- the driver side door opened up, a Teenage Hakase ran out up to Mio, and grabbed the convention tickets out of the younger girl's hands with a "You'll thank me later!" before absconding back to the Time Machine and accelerating back down the street where she, and the car, vanished in the tell-tale signs of time travel, another:

**BAM BAM BAM!** **_PCHOOOOO!_ **

"..." Mio stared at the burning fire tracks on the street for a moment even as Yuuko and Mai walked up, unaware of what just happened.

"Yo! Mio-chan!" Yuuko waved, "Selamat Pagi!"

"Good morning," Mai said simply.

Mio said nothing in reply as the fire tracks faded away, then turned to her friends and asked, "Is it possible for someone to time travel?"

"Eh?" Yuuko seemed taken back by that, "Isn't it my job to ask the random question?"

"Never mind," Mio shook her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah...I never got around to even starting the convention stories and by this time I've completely forgotten what it was I was even going to do with them...so here's Teen!Hakase time traveling for some odd reason. Who knows what she's doing with those tickets, and I don't particularly care to find out.
> 
> In the end, I decided to erase that plot line...PLUS there was the added benefit of accidental foreshadowing with Mio failing to understand a paradox!


	22. Busy Signal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I was busy uploading this story to AO3 today, my mom kept calling me in to help with a wonky toilet seat... @_@ ;; Eventually it got put on right...but it was surprisingly difficult to do such!

**BUSY SIGNAL.**

* * *

"Yeah, that's really quite something," Yuuko nodded as she chatted over the phone with a relative of hers that she hadn't seen in a long time. "It's almost like-!"

"YUUKO!" Her mother called out suddenly, "HELP ME FOR A MOMENT!?"

"Sorry, gotta go help mom with something!" Yuuko appologized, "Be back in a flash!" She put the phone down on the desk and went into the other room.

A few moments later, she came back in and picked up the phone again.

"Sorry about that! Mom's trying to install a new toilet seat...!" Yuuko chuckled slightly, "It's not really all that hard, I suppose, but-"

"YUUKOOO!"

Yuuko flinched, "Ah, yes, I did hear that just now." And with that, she went up to help again.

A little while later, she came back and resumed her chat. "It was the same seat this time. It was too far back for some reason... Me? ... Oh, nothing much. I've been busy with school, that's all. But you wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of mosquitoes we've been getting-"

"YUUKO! COME BACK HERE PLEASE!"

"dotdotdotdotdotdotdotdot," Yuuko said into the phone. "Yeah, Um...I think I'll have to call you back at this rate. Is that alright? ... Yeah?... Okay, then. I'll talk to you later then!"

And with that- Yuuko got up to help with something that she thought had been finished two whole attempts ago.


	23. Phantom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You still feel it on your arm.

**PHANTOM.**

* * *

Dead.

It was dead.

"Hakase?" The girl blinked as she heard Nano call from somewhere inside the house.

Shinonome Hakase said nothing in return as she continued to stare at the spot on her left wrist where a grasshopper had been standing mere hours ago.

At around lunch time, the unfortunate insect had landed on her arm and...She'd over-reacted because she didn't recognize it as a grasshopper at all.

"GET IT OFF!" She had whined to Sakamoto, pleading the cat to get the bug off of her hand.

Sakamoto had simply shrugged in response, and flung his paw forward to swipe at the creature...

And for Hakase, the moment just before impact would forever be seared in her memory.

Green skin nearly white- feelers twitching around in a curious way- and then her eyes had met it's...

SMACK.

And then it was dead.

"It's just a little grasshopper, kid," Sakamoto had said, and then Hakase's heart and gut wrenched tightly in sorrow instead of relief.

A grasshopper.

"Hakase?" She heard Nano call out again, then a pause, "Sakamoto-san, have you seen Hakase?"

"She's been moping around outside since before lunch," Sakamoto said, "she barely ate anything too. Just half a sandwich."

Hakase continued to ignore the grumbling in her stomach as she turned her attention down to the small little grave she'd dug into the ground for the grasshopper.

"Did something happen?"

"A Grasshopper got inside, I took care of it."

And it was such a simple dismissal, too.

"Hakase?" Nano was beside her now, "Is something wrong?"

Hakase sniffed, "I killed it."

"Huh?" Nano blinked, "You mean the grasshopper?"

"I killed it," Hakase repeated.

"Didn't Sakamoto kill it though?" Nano asked.

"He did," the girl sniffed, "but I still brought it to him. I was outside and it landed on my arm and then I ran inside and had Sakamoto kill it and it's all my fault that it's dead because I didn't just go outside and throw it out again."

Nano blinked- Hakase had said all of that quickly, in a mumble, and it took the robot a second or two of slowing the memory down to untangle the words to comprehend what exactly Hakase had said. "Oh...oh dear..." Nano sighed, "It's just a grasshopper, Hakase."

"But I got it killed!" And then the little scientist turned up at Nano, tears brimming in her eyes. "It wasn't doing anything wrong and then it landed on me and I got it killed! It wasn't hurting me and I got it killed all because...because..." She sniffed again, and then started crying really heavily as she hugged Nano tightly. "BECAUSE I GOT SCARED!"

"Sssh..." Nano stroked her hand through Hakase's hair, "it's alright, Hakase. Everyone gets scared, even me... It'll pass. It was just a bug..."

"I can still feel it," Hakase said it barely above a whisper.

"Huh?" Nano blinked.

"I can still feel it on my arm," Hakase continued in a whimper, "the little grasshopper... I can feel it on my arm still."

"Hakase..." Nano wasn't sure how to respond to that, not at all.

From his spot behind them, watching this all transpire, Sakamoto sighed.  _'Maybe I shouldn't have killed it,_ ' he thought to himself.  _'Might have spared her the pain...but then again,'_  he turned to leave, _'maybe it's better for her to feel this pain now while she's little, rather than later on when she's an adult.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happened to me today. As someone nearly 20 years old, I feel ashamed of myself for freaking out like I did, and the poor little Grasshopper paid the price for my foolishness. People say it's just a bug. People say the grief will pass... I didn't even know that Grasshopper personally... and yet at the same time I'm responsible. It chose my arm to rest on and I got it killed.
> 
> I can still feel it.


	24. Concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yuuko and Nano are concerned...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A follow up to the last chapter about Hakase. ...But I think Mio inner shipper has kicked into gear at the end there...0_0;

**CONCERN.**

* * *

"Na~No~Chan!" Yuuko said aloud as she walked over to the other girl's desk.

"Hm?" Nano looked up, "Oh, hello, Aioi-san."

"You've been looking sad all day," Yuuko said with a concerned look on her face, "did something happen?"

"Hakase's been upset since a grasshopper got killed," Nano said with a sigh, "she's really blaming herself for it even though Sakamoto-san was the one to kill it."

"Oh," Yuuko frowned slightly, "it's really upset her then?"

"Yeah," Nano frowned as well, "she hasn't been eating as much, and she's been really quiet too. It's starting to make me worry, because she hasn't even tried upgra-" She caught her words around the rest of the class, "-Pulling any pranks on me either. And that's really out of character for her. Plus," Nano looked over at Yuuko to gauge the girl's reaction, "she keeps saying she can still feel the grasshopper on her arm still."

"I hope it didn't bite her or something," Yuuko said.

"It didn't," Nano shook her head, "the skin isn't broken, there isn't a rash or anything. She's just imagining it, I think, but..." the girl sighed, "I can't get her to talk about it other than that."

"Do you want me to talk to her about it?" Yuuko offered.

"Would you, really?" Nano stood up suddenly, and grabbed Yuuko's hands as their eyes met up. "I wouldn't want you to be inconvenienced or anything...!"

"Sure I'll do it! I really hate seeing people be sad," Yuuko smiled, "and besides I've got nothing planned for tomorrow anyways! Maybe we could all go make a trip to a store or something?"

"Oh, thank you, Aioi-san! I think that might help out a lot!" Nano smiled for the first time that day.

Yuuko just flashed a grin in return.

Meanwhile, from the back of the class room, Mio just stared on at the sight with a conflicted expression on her face as she thought, _'I really shouldn't...and I don't even ship that normally... **but I want to draw those two!'**_


	25. HS: Pressurize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pressure is Exerted on a Door.

**HELVETICA STANDARRRRRRRD!**

* * *

"Ah!" The Son said as he sat up from the table, "I forgot to get a drink!"

The Father closed the door to the refrigerator even as The Son came up to it.

 _"I really should have done that while my food was cooking!"_  The Son thought as he began to say, "I really should-" The door didn't open. "Should-" He pulled at the door again. "Should..." He grabbed at the handle with both hands and pulled. "..." Nothing still, The Son turned to The Father and remarked, "Did you glue the door or something?"

The Father raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"I guess I really should have..." The Son tried yet again as he tried to pull the door open yet again- "WHAT THE HECK?" He shouted in frustration as the door refused to budge. The Son glared at the door even as The Father held back a laugh. The Son tried to open the door once more, remaining silent as it finally released and swung open.

" _dotdotdotdot_ " The Son thought as he got his chocolate milk out of the fridge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fridge routinely 'pressurizes' after one of it's doors has been opened. Today at lunch, it happened again- with the dialogue here left almost exactly as I said it...minus some extraneous cursing...which I think sets it apart from the other times it's happened, not counting the fact that this 'pressurizing' took absolutely forever!


	26. Con + Van(-a+i) + Cing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hakase and Yuuko see something strange.

**Con + Van(-a+i) + Cing**

* * *

It had taken some convincing to get Hakase to agree to go out to a newly renovated swimming pool so that they could talk about what had happened with the grasshopper, but somehow, Yuuko had done it.

Nano had been planning on coming along with them, but something had happened at the bank that the Shinonome Lab had its money stored in, and so Nano had gone there at the bank's own request.

And so, a train ride, and now half-of-a-bus-ride later, Yuuko and Hakase were staring out a window of the bus as they idled at a stop light.

Hakase had thus far been silent, occasionally scratching at a spot on her left arm but otherwise motionless as well.

And then she spotted something odd sticking out of the trunk of the white Jeep a lane over and a car length ahead.

"Hey...Yuuko?" She asked.

"Yeah?" Yuuko smiled.

"What's that?" The professor pointed out the window at the Jeep in question, and Yuuko followed the line of sight...

"Well it's-" It was a hand and a foot sticking out of the trunk door- somehow stuck through the thin gap between the door and the rest of the car frame. For a moment, Yuuko was sure it was real. And then her mind sorted out the details. No blood splatter, for one thing, and the 'arm' seemed to crunch down at an odd angle towards the door- much like a cloth door stop might. "It's just someone's idea of a prank! That's all." And wow, what a prank indeed! She'd have to tell Mai about it later-

The light went green, and the lanes began moving... Yuuko and Hakase couldn't help but keep their eyes on the Jeep...

And they watched as it quickly pulled out ahead of them, and merged lanes...Then Accelerated suddenly down the open lane as fast as it could before switching over lanes again to get out in front of a slower car before switching back over in front of it.

"Dot dot dot dot dot," Yuuko said flatly as the Jeep accelerated out of sight, and the bus driver spat out a long series of profanity.

"What a Jerk!" The driver said, "Yeah~! Sure! No rush, bud! Just go ahead and cut in front! Not like I've got anywhere to be!"

"T...that guy was just playing a prank...right?" Hakase asked. "He's not going to get pulled over...right?"

"Well," Yuuko said with a smile, "if he wasn't, then the police will get him for sure!"

"...W...Why would someone do something like that?" Hakase asked, eyes widening in surprise and fear.

"Lemme tell you something, Hakase," Yuuko began. "There are people out there who do really strange things for really strange reasons. They're the kind of people who...don't really regret doing these things. And you don't really ever understand these people, ya know?"

Hakase nodded.

"But then there are the people who do things and regret them right away," Yuuko continued. "Things like...Lying about what you were doing, or eating too many snacks after dinner, or... getting grasshoppers killed by accident?"

"Oh..." Hakase blinked.

"Well, see," Yuuko's smile widened just a bit, "those are the people who you can understand. They're the good people! The ones who apologize for doing weird stuff."

"So what about that person who just...?" Hakase didn't even finish the sentence, it was just too weird!

"Well, I'm not really sure, but somehow..."

* * *

"I get the feeling they're one of the weird ones!"

Mai didn't even blink as she drove the white Jeep in and out of traffic at impossible speeds, with a single squad car chasing after her, sirens blaring.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything about that car? Just happened about an hour ago... Not a clue who was driving it, but... Fake hand and foot out of the trunk door? *TOTALLY* a Mai thing... At least, I hope it was fake. 0_0


	27. Internal Strife

**Internal Strife.**

* * *

Things happened, Nano knew that, and she was grateful that someone like Yuuko was there to help out with things when they inevitably happened.

Thankfully, Yuuko had been looking after Hakase when an incident involving someone being seen stuffed into the back of a car at the local bank at which the Shinonome Laboratory's funds were kept at.

Nano had to go in to confirm that their account had not been tampered with thanks in part to an assumed botched robbery attempt.

Finding out that nothing had been touched had taken up a surprising portion of a supposedly free day, and when she had gotten home, Yuuko and Hakase had gotten back as well, and much to Nano's relief, Hakase seemed to be in much better spirits.

But now it was a week later, only just shy of a day, and Nano found herself concerned with another matter.

The fact that she felt like Yuuko was sitting entirely too close to her during their group's usual study session.

Comparing to a memory file (one benefit of being a robot, Nano supposed) revealed that Yuuko was sitting no further or closer than usual, which made the feeling of being too close entirely confusing to the girl.

Nano found herself glancing over at Yuuko every now and again, and that was even more maddening.

What was going on here? Nano had an inkling of an idea, but refused to believe it. It was impossible! There was no way that-that-!

She shook her head slightly with the mental declaration of "No!" No way. She was not going down that path right now. Study! She had to focus on the textbook materials... They had a test coming up and...and...! Nano caught her eyes wandering again and quickly corrected her line of sight back to the textbook in front of her.

That confusing pattern of distractions continued through the entire session, and that night, Nano admitted it to herself quietly as she got Hakase ready for bed.

Stupidly. Suddenly.

Nano had started to crush on one of her best friends- one of her first friends- one of her few friends.

A part of her wanted to ask Hakase if she'd done any 'upgrades' or 'modifications' in any way, but...

No, Nano was sure that wasn't the case.

If there had been any one good thing to come out of Hakase's encounter with that grasshopper, it had been the girl's reluctance to do anything to Nano's body and systems.

That meant that...Nano had developed these feelings on her own.

And she accepted that fact almost immediately- not unlike how Yuuko had simply accepted the fact that Nano was a robot.

And there in lay a certain...irony.

Nano scratched at her scalp in frustration.

Yuuko was her friend! She wasn't about to jeopardize their friendship over something as frivolous as a romantic relationship! No! She wouldn't do it! Not at all!

She would NOT act on those feelings!

But as the days wore on- Nano kept thinking. Her thoughts wondering- pacing wildly. It seemed almost as if a part of her personality had split off from her core self and was now arguing _**FOR**_ taking a leap and taking that risk- and at times she even felt like she was arguing with herself and even _Losing_ that battle, even in her dreams!

(One does not wake up to feel the sting of a slap on your face from a mirror image of oneself without realizing that there is something very, _**very**_ wrong with your mental health.)

For the next few days, her mind wandered to this infuriating problem at inopportune moments- and even more so when she was alone with her thoughts.

And so Nano's thoughts wandered even as she tried to push her way through life day after day- but a decision was made for sure. She would take things slowly. She wouldn't rush things. No. She would slowly try to see if Yuuko felt the same way- surely some more time spent together wouldn't be an issue, would it? Nano would keep calm- she would keep that growing desire to- to- No! She wouldn't even put words to the thought! That was how controlled over her emotions and actions she would become! She would keep all of this at bay!

And so- a whole week had passed since that study session- and Nano settled into an unstable state of sleep- plagued by thoughts of romance and friendship... and a certain girl.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > _|  
> > _|  
> > ENTER AUTHOR'S NOTES HERE_ _ _|  
> > _|  
> > _|


	28. Realistic Trajectory

**REALISTIC TRAJECTORY.**   
  


* * *

  
  
She was having Sphagetii for lunch- sphagetii and meatballs with a lot of tomato sauce.  
  
Mai had no clue how this had happened.  
  
One moment she was simply eating the red sauce covered noodles, and the next...  
  
Somehow some slippery drop of Tomato sauce had decided to leap up off of one of those noodles like a frightened weasel, flung itself in an upwards curving arc, sailed through the narrow gap between her glasses and the side of her face, and straight into her right eye.  
  
Her startled cry of surprise was rather uncharacteristic of her- but with good reason.  
  
Tomato sauce stings when it hits the eye.  
  
Mai still had no clue how the hell that had happened.  
  
Thankfully- Nano had a clean napkin that Mai used to get a majority of the offending liquid off of her eye, and then a trip to the washroom assisted by a concerned Mio got the rest of it out.  
  
A little over an hour later- Mai's eye still stung ever so slightly.  
  
And as she thought the whole event over in her head, she couldn't help but to think aloud:  
  
"Reality is unrealistic."  
  


* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the exception that this happened at dinner rather than lunch, this literally just happened to me. And I am just as confused as Mai-chan is. o_O;


	29. Forgetful

**Forgetful**

* * *

The bell rang, signaling the end of class.

Yuuko stretched her arms back with a pop, and let out a sigh of relief, "Finally! We're done with that class for today!"

"I don't know why you're so happy for," Mio said from one seat up, slumping forward in her seat in dread of the next class, "History's next."

"Ah! But it's a free day for review!" Yuuko wagged her right index finger as she 'tsk'ed at Mio, "I'm going to get the jump on tomorrow's test!"

"Eh?" Mio blinked, and turned back to look at the excitedly grinning Yuuko. "We don't have any tests tomorrow."

"What're you talking about?" Yuuko asked, "Tomorrow's Friday! The History Test is tomorrow!"

"...Yuuko," Mio said rather flatly, " _Today_ is Friday."

"What?" Yuuko asked in a rather confused tone, "No it's not. Today's Thursday."

"It's Friday."

"Thursday!"

"We have the history test in a few minutes, Yuuko!" Mio grit her teeth at that- "Don't you remember how you were going on and on about that New Anime yesterday during lunch?"

The look on Yuuko's face was absolutely hilarious in a heart breaking way- "Oh..yeah... I completely forgot that was on last night."

Mio sighed- "You didn't study at all, did you?"

"I did not," Yuuko slumped forwards into her desk and buried her head in her arms, going silent for several moments before sitting up and asking: "...Can't I go back to it being Tuesday already?"

_**"That's two whole days earlier!"**_ Mio snapped at her friends forgetfulness- "How could you forget what day it _**wasn't**_ already!?"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've all had this moment from time to time...Am I right? I totally woke up this morning thinking "Okay, Thursday. Bring it on!" then I'm told: "Nope. Friday! Time for the Grocery Store!" My reaction was exactly the same as Yuuko's- suddenly remembering that Thursday's TV shows had been on last night. "Oh...Okay..." PLUS: Art class tomorrow! Where the heck did the last week go?


	30. HS: Mind over Matter

**HELVETICA STAAAAANNNNDAAARRRD!**

* * *

The bar-keep poured a creamy-white liquid into two shot glasses on the bar.

Chirashizushi, the angel with a powerful toaster at home, watched in dismay as her friend picked up one of the two shot glasses. "Are you sure we should be doing this, Neko-chan?"

The cat-girl's ears twitched and flexed and she gave off a drunken grin, "Heck yah! I've been drinkin' dis stuff since before I can remember, Chira-chawn! It's purr-fectly safe!"

"I know that..." The angel scratched at her cheek in dismay, "but I'm really not sure that comparing our drinking intolerances in this way is really something an Angel like myself should be doing..."

"Nyahaha!" Neko-chan laughed, "Alright alright, Chira-chawn! I'll tell ya what! One drink! That's all I'm askin' for! One drink and we'll see how well you can handle it!"

"A-alright then!" Chirashizushi picked up the other shot glass and held it up to her lips, "Bottom's up~!" she took a sip from the shot glass and then flinched up in surprise- then slumped forward into the bar with a dazed "Nyaa~" before falling asleep on the spot.

"Wow," another Patron at the bar commented, "She really can't hold her liquor!"

"Nyeh?" Neko-chan mewed in confusion as she picked up the barely-touched shot glass from her friends hand and then downed it all- "It's just milk!"

"M-Milk!?" the Patron fumbled in surprise.

"Yup," The barkeep agreed- "Neko-chan asked for her 'regular' drink- Milk! Poor Chirashizushi thought the same thing you did just now! She psyched herself out."

"Dat's da power of da mind for ya!" Neko-chan laughed.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perception is a funny thing. This section is playing on the age ol' idea of someone not being able to drink even the tiniest drop of alcohol without falling over drunk...Except, it's not actually alcohol! It's just milk. :33 'Cause Chirashizushi's drinking partner is a Cat-girl. Heh... And Cats drink milk. What ever else would it be that she's ordered? Eh...this was a good idea in concept, probably not so good in execution. Oh well. Bottoms up! *Drinks some milk*


	31. For Reference

**For Reference.**

* * *

Mio was going to practice and refine her line work by tracing some existing pieces of hers as well as printouts from some favorite artists...

"Lightbox, check, Pencils, check, erasers, check, sharpener, check..." Mio went through the list of everything needed as she went to open the drawer that the pieces to be traced were in, "blank paper, check...sketch pages..."

Her eyes went wide ever so slightly.

"Missing?"

The drawer was missing the several, massive, 11 inch tall pieces of paper that she had painstakingly folded in half just the weekend before to fit inside this one drawer.

Missing.

She went to the door and opened it.

"SIS!" Mio called out into the house.

"WHAT?" came the reply from downstairs.

"DID YOU TAKE MY SKETCH PAPERS OUT OF MY DESK?" Mio shouted down.

"WHICH DRAWER?" came the elder sister's inquiry.

"TOP LEFT!" was the younger sister's reply.

"NOPE! I HAVEN'T TOUCHED THAT DRAWER IN A MONTH!" was the oddly accurate, but none-the-less slightly-helpful reply.

"THANKS!" Mio shouted back down, and then closed her door with a sigh. "Alright, then, if Sis didn't take it, then I must have put it somewhere else without realizing it."

After a fruitless search that left her room in disarray- Mio came to the conclusion that she must have taken the papers out of her house at some point. Did she take them to school to get them re-sized at the fax machine? Had she taken them for art class...?

She hadn't left her sketch-papers at school, had she?

A brief search through her memories indicated that... that... "I...don't think I did?"

Mio had no clue where her missing papers were at all.

Okay- so if she'd left the papers at school, then all she had to do was search everywhere tomorrow and-

"No..."

-They had the rest of the week off for Christmas break.

Mio's eyes widened slightly- "I...I have to wait an entire week...just to try to find my papers...?"

No! She was sure she hadn't taken the papers anywhere! She just had to search the house!

But deep down, Mio knew the truth.

She had to have left her papers at school somewhere. In her desk or...?

Somewhere?

Right?

With a sigh- Mio admitted defeat. "I'm not going to get any practice work in this week, am I?"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unlike Mio, I actually needed those papers for Art Class...And POOF. They just vanished from my backpack. Not a clue where they're at... I've got to wait a week to check for them because I stupidly didn't when I had the chance to.


	32. ERROR 2

**ERROR TWO.**

* * *

Yuuko sighed happily as she sat down at a computer to use the internet at the local Library. "Time to update that story!"

The Fan Fiction websites were always providing new and awesome stories for eager fans- and by night- Yuuko sometimes uploaded short stories to a certain site for her own enjoyment of seeing it on the net, if not for the enjoyment of others...

Unfortunately, her Internet had been bogged down by something as of late- and the internet refused to work pretty much at any time at the moment, leaving Yuuko with one alternative:

The Library.

Yuuko got onto the main site, and went to her profile- pages loading fine. From there- she hit "Sign In" and-

"Eh?" Yuuko blinked "Error Type Two?"

The page refused to load.

Okay- that was odd.

Yuuko backspaced a page and-

"Ehh?"

Same error.

"But...but..."

Yuuko shook her head- and waited a few moments. It had to be the site going wonky or something...

She refreshed- and the familiar site of her profile appeared again. "Whewf!" Yuuko went for the login button, and successfully navigated into the account page. "Heh heh, thought you could pull one over on me, didn't you?"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was going to upload the previous chapter to Fanfiction.net- this very thing happened. 0_0 So...I wrote about it! XD


	33. Short Thoughts: New

**SHORT THOUGHTS: New.**

* * *

Mio sniffed groggily as she sat at her drawing desk, a single sheet of paper before her along with several pencils.

For a few moments, she tapped her fingers against the table- then turned to pull a tissue out of a box and sneeze into it.

_'When I'm not feeling well, I find it hard to start off new projects.'_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I caught a cold on Christmas. I've still got a runny nose. What a 'fun' way to kick off 2014. Happy New Year.


	34. Import Patience

**Import-Patience.**

* * *

Almost two weeks.

That was how long it had been since Yuuko had ordered something online from over-seas.

What was even more frustrating was that the item-in-question had reached the Customs office within four days of ordering.

What was taking it so long?

Day after day, Yuuko would check the mail- waiting for the item-in-transit to arrive. Day after day, Yuuko would ask if some other delivery company had droped any packages off.

Day after day after day after day...

And now it was a whole new month since she had placed the order in the first place.

Had the item gotten hold up in Customs? Were they just being slow in the Holiday rush?

Worse- Yuuko feared- was that the Customs officials had deemed the item volatile, and destroyed it!

There had been a scary news report just the other day of Customs Officials breaking someone's flute collection for no real reason. There had even been stories of entire complex costumes being removed from their packaging and then replaced with a single vital piece missing, and the entire box being covered in that dreaded "Customs" tape...!

But that hadn't happened. Surely it hadn't! Those were all just rare occurrences...

_'What if it got lost in the mail?'_

And Yuuko's sense of dread grew.

As of late many delivery services had been hiring sub-par drivers who didn't care about ensuring that packages were reaching their intended recipients.

Drivers who simply wrote off not being able to deliver due to nobody being home when they never checked- Drivers who flung boxes marked "Fragile" out of the trucks without even caring what was inside- Drivers who mis-read the address and delivered the items to the wrong house...!

There had even been an incident of someone's freshly ordered eyeTablet being hidden in an empty trash can when the door hadn't even been checked, resulting in that expensive item being trashed without even being opened!

_'The Possibilities are too great for disaster!'_

But surely- SURELY that hadn't happened.

Surely- it was all just her panicking over nothing.

After all- the delivery time said seven to forty days...!

How many days had it been...?

Ten. Only ten days since the shipping tacker said that it had hit customs.

Maybe she should check it again...

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ordered something well before Christmas and it's still not here yet. I'm sure you've all been here.


	35. HS: Brick

**HELVETICA STANDARD~~!**

* * *

A girl stared at the red brick of a toy in front of her.

Nothing happened.

"Brick," She said as she held up the box for the brick and read the product description: "It's fun!"

She looked back at the brick, and then pressed a button.

It made a loud clashing sound followed by some magical sound effect.

"Meh," the girl said. "Meh, I say."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some toys these days are just bricks that don't really do much of anything. Phineas and Ferb once lampshaded this with the "BRICK!" *huming* "BrickBrickBrickBrickBrick! It's fun!"
> 
> Yeeeeaaaahhhh...


	36. Be Happy!

**BE HAPPY.**

* * *

Hakase looked at the notebook in her arms, then up to the display on the shelf.

Back to the notebook...It was a small, pocket notebook with LEGO Minifigures on its cover.

She looked up at the display, and frowned slightly.

Back to the notebook. The first image on the top of the cover was of a Minifigure smiling and saying "How to fit in!"

Back to the display... Nope.

Back to the Notebook, the second image in the middle was a group of minifigures chatting while building something with bricks. "Make Connections!" It said.

Back to the Display. Lots of connections there. Hakase fiddled with the one dial that made one of the helicopters move side to side.

Back to the Notebook, the third and final image, and also the reason she'd wanted to get the notebook in the first place... It was a Minifigure being eaten by a Shark! It said: "Be Happy!"

Back to the display. It was a CITY themed display, with many sets for the Ocean Rescue selection of toys primarily on display.

"Nano," Hakase held up the notebook to get Nano's attention, "does this look familiar to you?"

"Hm?" Nano wandered over, and looked from the notebook to the display. "...What...?"

There, in the corner closest to the edge, were three LEGO sharks circling a Minifigure...

Or rather, one was circling, and the other two were eating the poor Minifigure alive.

The Minifigure being eaten was smiling, despite it having a second, fearful face at its disposal.

"...I guess someone was inspired...?" Nano offered hesitantly.

"Guess so," Hakase replied.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't actually get the notebook, but I did have this exact startling encounter this morning at our local TARGET...


	37. FROZEN

**FROZEN.**

* * *

Yuuko stared at the giant display that was blocking access to the food behind the freezer door.

What else was she expecting from Daiku Supermarker?

Yuuko sighed and looked at the problem from all angles.

The frozen pizzas were at the left most edge of the freezer block, with a wall separating it and the next one over. The door was blocked up with a giant (and heavy) display of potato chips. (In a Frozen Food Isle?!) The door over to the immediate right was definitely open to access, but the distance from the bar holding the blocked door to the frozen pizzas themselves would be an issue.

Yuuko looked at her left arm and held it out to gague the distance...

No, she could reach this!

So, giving a thumbs up to her mother, Yuuko turned to open the middle freezer door, nudged up to the edge, and reached across to the frozen pizzas.

And...! "GOT ONE!" She pulled out a small square of a pizza box, and tossed it into the cart.

"Couldn't we just move the display?" Her mother asked.

"No way, it's way too heavy!" Yuuko shook her head, wondering just how the display was even put up in the first place- It was just that huge!

Despite that, her mother tried to move it, and failed to do such due to the contents of the display starting to fall out.

"Alright, yeah," Agreement as her Mother put the fallen bags back up. "Definitely too heavy!"

Yuuko moved on to try getting the next Pizza out...

And much to her horror- she now had to reach another row over entirely! How dare that one row only have ONE frozen pizza on it!?

Yuuko rolled up her sleeves (Metaphorically), and reached into the freezer.

It was a stretch, but...! Buuuuuttttt...!

"AHAH!" She grabbed two boxes at once!

After placing them into their cart, she held up her slightly chilled arm and hand in a victory sign and cheered, "VICTORY!"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minus "Victory!" I had to do just this exact same thing at the store today. 0_0; Seriously, who puts a whole display in front of a frozen food door like that?


	38. CEREAL

**CEREAL.**

* * *

"I wanna try this!" Hakase pointed at a certain type of corn-based cereal on the shelves.

"You're going to think it tastes weird," Nano warned Hakase, having heard Yuuko talk about that particular cereal before.

"I still wanna try it!" Hakase said, "And even if I don't like it I'll keep eating it until it's gone!"

Bold words, Nano mused, and then said, "Alright then."

And so the first thing Hakase did when they got home was open the box of cereal for lunch.

As soon as she tried pouring the box's contents into the bowl, gravity took hold, and a certain piece fell out onto the table before any of it even reached the bowl.

Curious, Hakase picked up the piece of cereal, and put the piece in her mouth after a moment of observing the puffy piece of food-stuff.

Nano watched as Hakase's face twisted and contorted in surprise, "I told you you'd thought it'd be weird."

Hakase blinked a few times as she swallowed the strange piece of cereal. "I didn't think it'd be THAT weird!"

But even so- Hakase took the box of cereal and poured it properly into the bowl.

Nano blinked- was Hakase really going to keep her promise to finish off the box of cereal even if she didn't like it...?

 _'I guess she's growing up...'_ Nano thought sadly for a moment.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Corn Pops are WEIRD.


	39. Worn Down.

**Worn Down.**

* * *

 

Mio found herself sighing as she massaged her wrists after finishing up her work on her present page for the night.

'Amost done,' she sighed. Just a bit more of black spotting and that small panel on the bottom of the page... But even so, her wrists hurt from the all-day session she'd put herself through, let alone some of the other things that had happened before that...   
  
Like nearly getting run over by someone speeding through two red lights on her way to the local mart to get some fresh milk. That single event had been a shock to Mio's poor little heart, and everything from the rest of the day just... just felt tiring.   
  
She could have been seriously hurt by that driver's recklessness- killed even, if the driver had been going fast enough... It brought a sense of mortality that she hadn't felt before. While the all-day Inking Session had been a decent distraction from all of that... There was still that nagging feeling of being worn down to a really tired state.   
  
Mio wanted to draw something new, something interesting... but all she'd managed to do beyond the inking had been some warm up sketches. Decent, she supposed, but not good enough to her usual quality. She definitely felt like she should re-work it later. The scale was all out of whack...   
  
Mio grimaced slightly as the pain in her wrists flared up slightly, and she went back to the elbow massaging technique Ren-kun had taught her. 'Left right...up down...' It felt like a dream- that nearly devastating experience.   
  
With a sigh, and a tug at her shirt collar, Mio grumbled, "Stupid weather..." It was way too warm for this late at night, definitely too warm... But that was the problem with an ever changing weather pattern.   
  
Mio went to get a drink of water from the kitchen, and as she did such, she decided. "I'm going to go to bed early." Or that was the plan, at least...   
  
The next thing Mio knew, half an hour had passed and she was lying in bed, unable to sleep, reading a book... Such was life.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reckless drivers are scary. 0_0


	40. HS: Missing

**HELVETICA STAAAANDAAARD!**

* * *

"Say, Mako," Ryuko asked as she and her friend looked at a small assortment of children's toys at a random isle of the grocery store. "Do you ever get the feeling that something's missing? Like...you don't know what it is, but suddenly, you feel like you're missing something really important?"

"Hm..." The other girl next to her surveyed the poorly stacked shelf, and then grabbed a silver-plastic can from the shelf and held it out. "Silly Goop!"

"Haah?" Ryuko blinked in confusion.

"Someone opened the plastic wrap, broke the lid, and took all the Silly Goop from it!" Mako held the can down upside down, nothing fell out, and then showed the opened end of the can to Ryuko. "Why!? WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO SUCH A THING!?"

"...Because they're an idiot?" Ryuko suggested, not able to come up with much else. It wasn't even the good kind of Silly Goop either. Just some Oil-slick looking Slime.

Why _**would**_ someone want to even steal that for?

Ryuko just shook her head as Mako went on one of her rants about how that Silly Goop was important to someone, and now was lost...

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously. Who steals a toy from the packaging? I mean...I could SEE why someone would want to steal something like the Ranger Keys from the SuperMegaforce toyline... But little cans of black GOOP? What is this I don't even-


	41. Short Thoughts: Bowl of Petunias

  
**SHORT THOUGHTS.**  
  
A man was about to leave work, key already in the ignition, when someone important stepped out of the building and practically marched over to his car.  
  
The man got out of his car, and forgot to remove his key, or lock the door.  
  
As the two men started talking about some important thing or another, Mai simply walked over to the car, opened the door without a sound, and sat down in the drivers seat.  
  
She then slapped a small hand-full of black-slime into the door lock mechanism, and then pulled the door closed silently before locking it.  
  
And so, as Mai turned the keys in the ignition, the Car thought to itself.  
  
 _"Oh no, not again!"_  
  


* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the Driver's name is Arthur Dent.


	42. Con-Lang

**CON-LANG**

* * *

 

It was going to be a pleasant day, Hakase thought, when she woke up to the sound of construction workers outside.

"Nanooo?" Hakase called out tiredly as she rubbed at her eyes. "What's going on...?"

"Remember when they painted the street a couple days ago?" Nano asked in return as Hakase walked over to the open doors overlooking the street that was being worked on. "Well, they're diging there now."

"Really?" Hakase asked. "Why now?"

"Dunno," Nano shrugged.

It was early on a Friday morning? When _else_ would be a better time?

And so for a long while, Hakase just sat there, staring out onto the street where the workers (She counted! There were EIGHT of them!) traded off digging, sucking away something or other from the holes with a giant vacuum tube, _FILMING_ it all with **BIG HUGE CAMERAS** , and there was even this cute little drone-helicopter toy they were flying around too!

Eventually, Nano went out to ask what was going on.

It turned out that this was just a Site Safe crew that made sure the Construction Sites were...well... _**Safe**_ for the next crew to come in!

Then they started digging a second hole.

It was between that hole's end and the start of the third that Nano went off to school, leaving Hakase there to watch the workers work.

Then things went silent. Hakase watched as four of the workers gathered around one hole and the truck that had been powering their machines went silent.

Done already?

She watched them all talk, silently in the distance. She couldn't hear them, but it seemed like they had their own language.

Hand gestures were made, instruments were checked...

It was like some kind of Construction-Worker-Coded-Language!

Hakase tried to figure out what was going on... But she knew so little of this.

Now one man showed up carrying a stick with something attached to the end, and another with some kind of sensor gun?

Both went into the hole.

She counted all eight of them gathered at the hole now.

What was going on?

They all stood silently, not moving as they waited for the results of whatever it was they were doing.

In the past, Hakase had always watched this type people work with fascination. The time they'd paved over the broken street had been interesting, and then there was the time people had put up a new wooden fence in the house bordering the Laboratory's back side.

This was something new! They were doing something to the Gas and Sewer lines, or so Nano had said... It was all to get things exposed so that the next crew wouldn't damage things.

She supposed that's what the camera was for, now suspiciously absent.

One man was lifting up a tablet computer, looking at the screen and tilting it so that he could see what was on it in the morning sunlight.

Hey! She learned a body gesture! Cool!

They were connecting a tube to the stick from before now... WOAH! Water! It was shooting water now!

Now it went back into the hole- were they washing something away?

It came out... All eight of them stood, yellow and orange jacketed, around the hole.

The woman of the group- maybe their supervisor?- seemed to listen to what they were saying as they talked, and offered her own input as well. But it was so hard to tell with their backs turned and the truck- Even more silent than before? Had it just been on standby or something?

Now they were putting the large suction tube back into the truck... Just like they had when they prepared to move everything to a new hole!

Were they going to dig a fourth one? Or was their work here done?

The water hose was retracted into the truck... And the vests were coming off! Most of the workers walked up the street and out of sight, and Hakase lost track of them...

They were done here, it seemed.

OR not? One came back with some normal looking vacuum cleaner...and a giant broom! Clean up work, now.

Hakase continued to watch them work, small as it was. Boy, would she have a story to tell Nano when she got home!

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always used to watch construction workers when they were doing work on our street. It was counted as schooling for me, partially, but I didn't really care about it. There's just something fascinating with watching construction workers work.


	43. Like Love: Mothers

**LIKE LOVE: Mothers**

* * *

"Happy Mother's Day!"

Nano blinked in confusion as Hakase hugged her from the side. "Huh? Hakase? Um, that isn't-"

"I know." Hakase cut off all possible endings to that sentence with a soft tone, "Just for a minute? Can we pretend?"

"Ok." Nano smiled and moved to hug Hakase in return.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all Mothers, be they biological, adoptive, surrogate, or what have you. Have a happy Mother's Day.


	44. Usefulness

**Usefulness.**

* * *

 

"Ne, Mio-chan?" Yuuko began from where she lay, arms crossed on the desk, chin resting on arms.

"Yeah?" Mio turned around in her chair to face her friend.

"Do you ever have those days where you feel like you've done nothing at all, even though you've done lots of stuff?" Yuuko asked.

"Um...sometimes," Mio nodded. "Why? Feeling that way today?"

"Yesterday actually," Yuuko said, "I was so busy yesterday that I forgot to ask you."

"Well, that's about par the course, I'd say," Mio sighed.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd actually meant to write/upload this yesterday. But, like Yuuko... I just got caught up working on things. 0_0;


	45. Pattern Breaker

**Pattern Breaker.  
**

* * *

 

"You want me..." Yuuko looked to her driving instructor, "to drive that?" She pointed at the large van that they were going to be using for the day. "But what about the small car we've been using!?"

"Someone else is using it today, and besides, it will be good for you to try something new!" The driving instructor gave her classic ten point smile.

The van was an older model- by at least four years- than the car she'd been practicing with.

 _'OhGodOhNoOhPleaseDon'tLetMeCrash,'_ Yuuko gulped as she sat in the driver's chair, everything was different, yet the same. Mirrors adjusted- seat adjusted- hands on wheel at ten and two...

Or was it nine and six? Eleven and One?

"Easy, Aioi-chan," the Instructor saw her panic and tried to calm her. "Let's just give it a try, and ease into it, like we did with the car. Remember how paniced you were when we first started?"

Yuuko nodded- saying nothing although her mind was racing thirty miles per hour.

"Just a simple Figure Eight loop," was the course, "around the local streets."

And it was a simple loop- the whole ordeal was over in less than ten minutes...

It felt like a life time for Yuuko.

The whole van shook with the slightest bump, the brakes squealed and required SO much more pressure to even come to a stop, and the accelerator seemed to stick and wanted to keep pushing her forwards faster and faster even though she'd taken her foot off of the gas...

When they parked, Yuuko got out shaking her head, muttering "Never again, never again...Not doing that ever again..."

The Driving Instructor sighed, "Back to square two then, Aioi-chan?"

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A change in what you're used to can be scary.


	46. HS: Clean Slate

**HELVETICA STANDAAAARRRDDD...**

* * *

Rei was babysitting a friend's youngest daughter, Merry. After getting her into the tub and wetting the wash cloth, Rei happend to pause on the wash cloth's washing instruction tag.

"Wash Before Use, Machine Wash Cold, turn Garment Inside out-" She failed to scoff back a laugh, and soon both her and Merry were laughing their hearts out.

"It's a washycloth!" The young girl beamed, "It only has two sides!"

"There's more though!" Rei continued to read, "'Do Not Iron Decoration', What decorations?!" She held out the wash cloth and flipped it over bare side to bare side.

Not an image to be seen.

And so began another round of laughter between them.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of those semi-rare times when something I write for one story can also apply to other stories. I seem to have a thing for doing the same scenes in different stories from different perspectives.


End file.
